Operation Photo Op, Katrina Edition, Day 362

U.S. President George W. Bush speaks beside Hurricane Katrina survivor Rockey Vaccarella at the White House August 23, 2006. REUTERS/Jim Young (UNITED STATES)

Cake eating, guitar strumming President Bush is continuing to fight Hurricane Katrina with.....more and more powerfully staged photo ops.

Will Bunch at Attytode deconstructs the latest fakery.

"Rockey I": If it sounds too good to be true...

The good news is that CNN seems to have finally stop obsessing over John Mark Karr. Instead, they've found a new soap opera to go ga-ga over, Katrina survivor Rockey Vaccarella, who drove his FEMA trailer from his home in ravaged St. Bernard Parish to Washington with "the hope" of convincing President Bush to meet with him.

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And, whaddya know? Turns out that the earthy Vaccarella -- a highly successful businessman in the fast-food industry -- is indeed a Republican pol, having run unsuccessfully under the GOP banner for a seat on the St. Bernard Parish commission back in 1999.

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And in fact, Vaccarella seemed very confident that he would be meeting with Bush when he left home, to the point where he had a date scheduled and everything:

Dinner with the President is planned for the evening of August 22nd

Couldn't they just spend the money on the victims? I guess not.

Rockey even got a swag bag! Karl thinks of everything.
Rockey Vaccarella shows off some of the gifts given to him by President Bush, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2006, after meeting with Bush at the White House in Washington. Vaccarella, 41, of Mereaux, La., said he wanted to thank Bush for the federally provided trailers that have provided temporary housing to many in the region who lost homes, but also to keep the pressure on. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)